


Day 17: "Stay With Me"

by evilwriter37



Series: Whumptober 2019 [17]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Near Death, Whump, Wounded, hiccup!whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 04:16:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21068681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37
Summary: Hiccup is shot with an arrow and nearly dies.





	Day 17: "Stay With Me"

“No, no, Hiccup!” Astrid cried. She saw him take the arrow, saw him fall from Toothless towards the ocean below. She had to get to him.

Knowing the other Riders would take care of the Dragon Hunters, Astrid dove down on Stormfly towards Hiccup, racing, hoping she would be able to get to him on time.

Stormfly caught him in her talons, and the only sound Hiccup made was a grunt. Then she was flying away, heading towards the nearest sea stack, urgency quickening her heart. There were blasts of fire, shouts from both Dragon Hunters and Dragon Riders. 

Stormfly put Hiccup down as gently as she could, then landed, and Astrid hopped off of her, ran over to Hiccup. There was an arrow sticking out of his gut.

“Oh gods, oh gods.” She didn’t know what to do. She’d been shot before, but that had been in the leg. This was entirely different. It had probably hit his organs. He was probably bleeding inside. Oh gods, was he dying? Please tell her he wasn’t dying.

“Hiccup, I’m here, I’m here.” Astrid knelt by him, cradled his head in her lap.

Hiccup looked up at her. There was blood in the corner of his mouth.

“Arrows suck,” he simply said, as if he hadn’t been shot by one. He looked down at the one in him, his face white.

“Yeah, yeah they do.” Astrid laughed, or maybe it was a sob. Yep, she was crying. Her chest and throat ached. She was probably losing Hiccup, the man she loved. 

“We shouldn’t take it out,” he told her, and Astrid didn’t know how he was speaking so evenly. Wasn’t he in pain? “Then I’ll just bleed out if I’m not dying already.”

Astrid frantically shook her head. “No, no, you’re not dying.”

“Mm…” Hiccup closed his eyes.

Astrid shook him a little. “No, no, no, stay with me! Hiccup!”

Hiccup said nothing. But Astrid could still see his chest rising and falling, could hear him breathing. He was alive. For now.

“Oh my gods, what happened?” Snotlout asked, careening in on Hookfang. The rest of the Riders followed behind him, Toothless with them.

“H-he got shot,” Astrid spluttered. 

Toothless came over, lowed mournfully, nuzzled Hiccup’s head. The dragon looked so sad. He must have fallen after Hiccup had, and Astrid had been too engrossed in saving Hiccup to see it. He wasn’t wet though, so he hadn’t gone into the ocean. The rest of the Riders must have saved him.

Astrid felt selfish all of a sudden. She’d been so focused on saving Hiccup that she hadn’t thought about Toothless, hadn’t thought about his best friend. What would Hiccup think of that, were he conscious? 

“Hiccup, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She didn’t know why she was apologizing. He couldn’t hear her. He might never hear her again.

“We have to get him to Gothi,” Fishlegs said.

Astrid nodded. It was a long flight to Berk, but they had to make it and hope that Hiccup lived. She reached a hand down, snapped the haft of the arrow off, and stood, managing to cradle Hiccup in her arms. She put him on the back of Toothless, then mounted him. He was the fastest dragon. It only made sense to fly him.

“Okay.” Astrid wiped tears from her eyes, feeling determined. “Let’s go.”

  
  


The flight to Gothi’s was arduous and terrifying. Hiccup lay on Toothless in front of Astrid, unconscious, but still breathing. He would give out the occasional moan, still feeling pain. The sounds made Astrid’s heart ache. But what was worse was that he was getting paler, that when she checked his pulse it was getting weaker.

_ Don’t die, don’t die. Please don’t die. _

She would lose so much if Hiccup died, not to mention the others that cared about him. Gods, Toothless would hurt so much. That thought made her let out a choked sob. They were best friends, and Toothless didn’t like flying with anyone else. 

Gothi worked quickly once they got to her hut. After placing Hiccup on one of the beds inside, she shooed all of the Riders out so she could work without anyone getting in the way. Astrid understood, but she still wanted to see him, wanted to make sure that he would pull through.

Hours passed with the Riders just sitting outside Gothi’s hut. Everyone was bored, exhausted, worried. Stoick arrived, went in to see his son but was promptly kicked out. He went and sat with them.

“What happened?” he asked after a long time in silence.

“We were intercepting a shipment of dragons,” Astrid answered, voice hoarse. “He got shot.”

Stoick put his head in his hands. “I used to think dragons would kill him, not that he’d die protecting them.” His voice sounded so hopeless, so broken, just like how the rest of them were feeling. 

Time passed, and Gothi finally came out, hands folded. If there had been any blood on them from working on Hiccup, she’d cleaned it off.

Stoick and all of the Riders stood, terrified and anxious to hear what she had to tell them.

Gothi took up her staff, drew in the sand. Stoick peered at it. Astrid’s gut clenched. It felt like her heart stopped. She couldn’t breathe. What did it say?

“He’s alive,” Stoick announced, breathing a huge sigh of relief. “He’ll live.”

Astrid found herself crying again, but this time the tears were ones of joy. 


End file.
